Cheyenne’s economy blazing

1,500 new jobs coming to town, more expected

CHEYENNE — After years of trailing the Northern Front Range’s booming economy, Cheyenne’s economy is “soaring with the eagles,” according to one Cheyenne retailer, and business leaders forecast it could grow even stronger.

“This is the best of times for Cheyenne,´ said economist Dick O’Gara. “It may not be the best of times in the history of Cheyenne, but for the last three to four years, this is something that we just have not seen.”

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O’Gara, who heads the Center for Economic and Business Data at Laramie County Community College, noted that Laramie County’s average annual income recently increased by 3.6 percent and that it boasts a low 3.3 percent unemployment rate.

But the prime statistic is the creation of 1,500 new jobs in the last 15 months. Most are well-paying manufacturing or service jobs, further diversifying the city’s traditional base of government and military jobs.

“It’s a very exciting and prosperous time for our community,´ said Mayor Jack Spiker.

Businesses locating, expanding

A new Lowe’s Cos. regional distribution center is under construction in the Cheyenne Business Parkway, bringing nearly 500 new jobs to the community when it opens next year and elevating Cheyenne on the radar screen of national site selectors.

Another newcomer, Grobet USA, plans to relocate its world manufacturing and research development headquarters to Cheyenne, adding up to 70 more jobs to the 50 it already has in its new building in the Business Parkway.

Equally significant is continued growth of two businesses that relocated to Cheyenne a decade ago, Sierra Trading Post and Trilegiant (formerly SafeCard Services), and renovation of two historic downtown landmarks that flourished nearly a century ago, the Union Pacific Depot and the Plains Hotel.

Add in new banks, new businesses, new streets and infrastructure and you have a city that is finally taking its place as the northern anchor of the Front Range.

The growth is bringing national chain stores and restaurants to Cheyenne and establishing the community as a regional shopping center.

“Retailing today in Cheyenne is soaring with the eagles,´ said Wally St. Clair, manager of the J.C. Penney store in Frontier Mall. “After 9-11, we all thought there might be a drop in the economy, but in Cheyenne that hasn’t happened. In fact, sales tax revenue has continued to grow at about a 7 percent clip, and that growth would be a reflection of retail spending.”

His store had a double-digit increase in sales last year and that’s continuing so far this year, St. Clair said. Mall traffic counts are up 5 percent and sales are up 7 percent, excluding the anchor stores, Dillards, Sears and Penney.

Next door, Target has embarked on a $5 million-plus expansion and renovation, while Lowe’s retail store is nearly ready to open just north of the mall.

Sierra Trading Post is building a new 284,000-square-foot fulfillment center that will more than double the firm’s existing building, which already has undergone three major expansions since the company moved to Cheyenne from Nevada 10 years ago.

The national mail-order house brought 15 employees with it, hired 45 in Cheyenne and since has grown to around 500. Plans for future expansion could add as many as 500 more in the next 7 to 10 years, said company founder and president Keith Richardson.

Sierra bills itself as “an in-house outlet mall” providing name-brand closeout and overstock outdoor and recreational gear and clothing at a savings of 35 percent to 70 percent to mail-order, telephone and Internet customers.

Established firms thriving

However, it also has become a major retailer in Cheyenne and eventually plans to open a mini-outlet mall, with a specialty store for each of its six catalogs.

Trilegiant, which provides telephone credit card services, also has experienced significant growth since it moved to Cheyenne from Florida in 1992 and now is one of Cheyenne’s largest employers with 500 workers.

It also has weathered a series of corporate acquisitions and mergers that put it under five different corporate flags in 10 years and still prospered.

“Just like my grandkids, the company has grown, changed and become the independent company we know today,” Spiker observed at Trilegiant’s 10th birthday party.

Both companies are early success stories of Cheyenne LEADS, the city-county economic development corporation that has attracted some two dozen companies to the community in the last decade. And both companies and their employees are devoted to giving back to the community.

“We look at both of these companies as a proud parent might,´ said Randy Bruns, LEADS’ new president. “Sometimes a community underestimates or is not aware of the impact a company has on a community, and these companies have been involved in every level and encouraged their employees to be involved.”

Meanwhile, Cheyenne’s historic downtown is in the midst of a renaissance, with the depot and Plains renovations, reconstruction of Capitol Avenue and construction of a 700-splace enclosed downtown parking facility this summer.

Security First built a new downtown bank two years ago, First National Bank of Wyoming’s new bank is under construction now just a block from the new Ed Murray & Sons insurance office building, and the proposed Cheyenne State Bank hopes to be the first new chartered bank in Cheyenne since 1977.

“It’s all very, very positive,´ said mayor Spiker.

Adds Penney’s St. Clair: “Everything that’s happening is reinforcing our attraction as a retail shopping center, making it more attractive for the people that live here to shop but just as importantly making it attractive for the people that live in adjacent communities to come here and shop.”

Another thriving sector is tourism, and not just during Cheyenne Frontier Days, according to Jim Osterfoss, who owns the Nagle-Warren Mansion bed and breakfast.

“Tourism is the second-largest industry in Wyoming and one of the largest in Cheyenne,” he says. “Cheyenne is one of the largest tourism providers in Wyoming. We’re at a gateway with I-80 and I-25 coming in that feeds the rest of the state.”

The mood throughout the business community is one of optimism, though concerns about the pace of growth and lack of housing are beginning to surface. But Bruns said he believes the community can handle growth as long as it continues to invest in infrastructure and remains committed to managing growth.